This is one of the biggest questions we face—what we believe about this matters.
“And God made the beast of the earth…and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.” — Genesis 1:25
Whether you assume that life is the product of chance and time or that God created life in its current form—or you believe a little bit of each—the question remains: What is life?
You can take a clinical approach and describe life by the biological functions and processes that take place, or you can describe the basic chemical elements that distinguish plants and animals from inorganic matter like rocks. But this still does not get at the big question.
What is that breath of God or spark of energy or whatever you want to call it—that thing that starts life and ends at death?
KNOW YOUR TERMS
Life: The ability to grow, reproduce, move independently, and metabolize.
Primordial Soup Model: Random chemicals came together and formed the first self-replicating molecule.
Vertical Evolution: Over time, creatures move upward from the simplest creature to the most complex.
Second Law of Thermodynamics: Everything tends to go from order to disorder.
First Commandment to Humans: “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion.”
First Cause: That which came before the universe and created the universe.
THINK TANK
What are the three “mechanisms” that evolutionists think took creatures from being simple to being complex? Adaptation, Mutation, and Natural Selection
What are some major problems with the theory of evolution? (1) Scientific experiments have never created life, but most evolutionary models require that spontaneous generation of life happened at least once in the beginning. (2) Vertical evolution relies on the pattern that simple life forms became complex, but there is no good explanation for that theory since mutations typically aren’t beneficial. (3) Vertical evolution contradicts the Second Law of Thermodynamics. (4) The chicken-and-egg problem means that parts needed for life all depend on each other, so evolution can’t explain how life started.
What was the significance of Louis Pasteur’s origin of life experiments? They demonstrated that life only comes from life.
What clue does Genesis 1:11-12 give about how organisms reproduce? And what does it suggest about DNA? Organisms bear “fruit according to [their] kind,” with their seeds in themselves. This indicates that god created organisms with the DNA to reproduce according to their own kind and not any other.
If someone believes life started just with chemicals randomly fitting together, how does that by necessity affect their worldview? If we are just the product of random chance, then there is no God, life has no meaning, and standards of right and wrong have no basis.
When discussing the origin of life with a person whose view is not based on the Bible, how would you support the fact that life only comes from life? Louis Pasteur performed experiments that showed that life only comes from life. Fred Hoyle said that if life were to come from non-life, it would be like a tornado sweeping through a junkyard and assembling a Boeing 747 with perfect precision and exactness.
EXTRAORDINARY EVIDENCE
Life was created fully functional. Many impossible things would have to happen for evolution to explain where life came from. The most logical explanation is that a FIRST CAUSE—something all-powerful (omnipotent) and all-knowing (omniscient) beyond our universe—created life.
DNA points to a creator. DNA, Deoxyribonucleic acid, is the information system for life. This complex language system stores life’s blueprints and demands an author. Information is a product of intelligence, which indicates that DNA came from an intelligent source, the Creator.
Cells protect life systems. All living things are made of cells. For DNA and proteins to work correctly, the cell membrane must protect them from unwanted reactions with chemicals in the environment. Proteins provide the catalyst for building and maintaining this wall-like barrier, and DNA’s information specifies the construction of those proteins. In the end, the cell membrane selects materials helpful to the cell and protects it against harmful ones. These three factors—DNA information, protein catalysts (enzymes), and a protective environment—have to be present at the same time for life to exist as cells.
Natural selection and adaptation don’t create life. Changes in basic kinds of organisms are limited to variations within the kinds. Harmful mutations lead to extinction not to new complex systems. Mutations cannot create a single gene. Plants and animals were originally created with large gene pools within their created kinds. A large gene pool gives a created kind the genetic potential (the potential to produce a variety of types within a kind) to adapt to different ecosystems and ensure the survival of that kind of organism. For example, there are many shapes, sizes, and colors of dogs, illustrating the tremendous genetic potential in this kind of animal. Natural selection can only operate on the genetic material already present in a population of organisms of the same kind. It can’t create new genetic information and then change one kind of organism into another—it can’t change a dog into a cat.
Life’s natural direction is not evolution. Copying errors in DNA’s information are called mutations, which adversely affect the cell and organism. Damage to the genome shortens the lifespan of individuals and entire populations. As time passes, genetic information erodes. Mutations in the genomes of organisms are usually nearly neutral, with little effect on the organism’s fitness—its ability to survive. But the buildup of harmful mutations does occur, and this causes genetic degeneration. Mutations lead to the loss of genetic information and, consequently, the loss of genetic potential. This results in what is termed genetic load for a population of organisms. Genetic load is the amount of mutation in a kind of organism that affects its fitness in a particular environment. We haven’t seen mutations increase genetic potential, but they do increase genetic load and make survival harder—especially in man. So life naturally heads toward harmful changes, not the helpful ones that evolution claims.
BACK TO THE BIBLE
Read Genesis 1:26, 28-29; Leviticus 17:11; 1 Corinthians 15:20-26.
What does it mean when the Bible says life is “in the blood”? How does this fit with how scientists would describe something as alive? If you have blood, then you have life. It is a different definition from the ones many scientists use. Plants can metabolize and reproduce, but according to the Bible, they aren’t alive in the same way that animals and people are alive because they don’t have blood.
Where did all of life come from? All of life came from God’s creation of the world in Genesis 1.
List some things that set humans apart from plants and animals. Humans were made in the image of God. Humans can make things out of their imaginations. Humans produce things purely for intellectual and aesthetic purposes. Humans are the only creatures that worship something.
What important task did God give us in Genesis? God gave humans the responsibility of ruling over the world and caring for it.
If we truly believe God made us special and set apart, how should that change the way we work, play, live, and interact with others? We should seek to know and understand God’s will for our lives so that we can please him in all areas of our life. We will recognize that we are all made in His image, so we are all unique and special and therefore, we should treat each other as such. We should place great value on life since it is from God.
What hope do Christians have in spite of the fact that life will someday end? Christians have hope in an eternal life spent with God through salvation in Jesus Christ.
OBSERVE GOD’S CREATION INTENTLY
I have heard one say that if you are bored with life it is because you are the one that is boring. The point is that God’s creation and this life is far from boring if you truly engage with it.
What are some activities that can help us and our families engage with God’s creation in an exciting way?